Superb from Hendrick and it's great to see that if Cork is out, we can simply bring in JBG and move Hendrick into the centre.

But what a ball in from Westwood for the goal - Too far for the keeper to come out and collect and not too far for the defenders to easily intercept. Bloody brilliant ball in.

I thought Westwood was impeccable today. Controlled the whole midfield, dictated our tempo and got a lovely assist too. My Yorkshire Tea man of the match.

Only a good save stopped it in the first half.
They obviously didnt learn their lesson.

Pickford was all over the place on corners, where as Pope looked commanding.

FactualFrank wrote:Superb from Hendrick and it's great to see that if Cork is out, we can simply bring in JBG and move Hendrick into the centre.

But what a ball in from Westwood for the goal - Too far for the keeper to come out and collect and not too far for the defenders to easily intercept. Bloody brilliant ball in.

Way over Tarky's head, all James could do was stand his ground..... which may be how they practised at Barnfield!

Great goal, Jeff Hendrick.

UTC

jdrobbo wrote:I thought Westwood was impeccable today. Controlled the whole midfield, dictated our tempo and got a lovely assist too. My Yorkshire Tea man of the match.

I was watching a poor stream, but I thought he looked excellent today too. The reason for thread was that he was the forgotten man - it was equally as much as Westwood's corner in as Hendrick's goal.

Watch Tarks block the defenders from getting in the way of Hendricks shot. Very savvy.

I am a big Westwood fan, his workrate and effort is almost always 100%. That said, although he played well today, I thought Everton controlled the midfield, specifically Delph, although they did nothing with it. I felt we missed Cork's presence TBH. Not taking anything away from Hendrick.

As a side my lad was a player escort today and walked out with Hendrick Clearly his influential words paid off.

Westy was really good today.

Westy MOM for me by a mile.

burnleymik wrote:I am a big Westwood fan, his workrate and effort is almost always 100%. That said, although he played well today, I thought Everton controlled the midfield, specifically Delph, although they did nothing with it. I felt we missed Cork's presence TBH. Not taking anything away from Hendrick.

As a side my lad was a player escort today and walked out with Hendrick Clearly his influential words paid off.

I though Delph was terrible myself. In part thanks to Westwood and Hendrick

Superb ball in for the goal, and indeed for the carbon-copy routine in the first half which ended with Pickford blocking Hendrick's volley.

Generally, thought Westy had another good afternoon - but I didn't think he used the ball as effectively as Hendrick, and I thought it was Jeff who increasingly took control of the game after the red card. But the two of them have proved every time that they've played together that they work very nicely as a double act.

One of the first names on the team sheet now, for sure.

claretspice wrote:Superb ball in for the goal, and indeed for the carbon-copy routine in the first half which ended with Pickford blocking Hendrick's volley.

Generally, thought Westy had another good afternoon - but I didn't think he used the ball as effectively as Hendrick, and I thought it was Jeff who increasingly took control of the game after the red card. But the two of them have proved every time that they've played together that they work very nicely as a double act.

One of the first names on the team sheet now, for sure.

When Cork was ruled out, I did think and made a comment on the match thread, that this could actually be a better midfield 4 than if Cork played, given we're at home and have the crowd behind us. I think the way we played showed that. Cork is a huge player, but we have players to come in and replace him when needed.

FactualFrank wrote:When Cork was ruled out, I did think and made a comment on the match thread, that this could actually be a better midfield 4 than if Cork played, given we're at home and have the crowd behind us. I think the way we played showed that. Cork is a huge player, but we have players to come in and replace him when needed.

Thought we missed Cork's positioning in front of the back four at times, particularly whilst Hendrick was feeling his way into the game early on, but certainlyif Hendrick can take advantage of this opportunity in midfield over the next couple of games (I presume Cork will miss most of this month) then it could turn out to be a real bonus for us. On paper, Hendrick does offer an ability to break the line from the centre of midfield that Cork doesn't (even if Cork's defensive nous and ability to win the second balls in the air will always be missed).

Our best corner taker. He's been curling them in and hitting the sweet spot for quite a while now.

burnleymik wrote:I am a big Westwood fan, his workrate and effort is almost always 100%. That said, although he played well today, I thought Everton controlled the midfield, specifically Delph, although they did nothing with it. I felt we missed Cork's presence TBH. Not taking anything away from Hendrick.

As a side my lad was a player escort today and walked out with Hendrick Clearly his influential words paid off.

Delph had a lot of the ball but mainly in his own half and most of his passes were simple sideways ones rather than the sort that open up a defence.

kaptin1 wrote:Delph had a lot of the ball but mainly in his own half and most of his passes were simple sideways ones rather than the sort that open up a defence.

Is he really there for that though?

He made some great tackles when we broke away.

FactualFrank wrote:Superb from Hendrick and it's great to see that if Cork is out, we can simply bring in JBG and move Hendrick into the centre.

But what a ball in from Westwood for the goal - Too far for the keeper to come out and collect and not too far for the defenders to easily intercept. Bloody brilliant ball in.

I think Westwood is the key midfielder now. It's when he's missing that we miss his energy - see Newcastle away last season.

Really coming into his own. A premium Dean Marney.

Westwood is complete proof that you don't have to spend silly money to get top players

Bin Ont Turf wrote:Our best corner taker. He's been curling them in and hitting the sweet spot for quite a while now.

Only when he clears the first man though.

Having a great season for us so far!

Vegas Claret wrote:Westwood is complete proof that you don't have to spend silly money to get top players

Unfortunately some fans aren't willing to wait for a players quality to show.

Pretty sure his signing was used to beat Dyche/the club with when we got him and a few times since.

MACCA wrote:Only a good save stopped it in the first half.
They obviously didnt learn their lesson.

Pickford was all over the place on corners, where as Pope looked commanding.

Pope must be crawling right over Pickford for the England No 1 spot. Pope is the best goal keeper Burnley have ever had, he has the lot. He now looks a better keeper than 12 months ago, his kicking is 100% better and the way he commands is box is awesome.

Far better keeper than Heaton who was routed to his line last week at Villa, if that have had been Hart he would have had dogs abuse

Westwood has been outstanding in 2019. I would say our most improved player

All our players have improved. Westwood is certainly around the top of that list.

Top Claret wrote:Pope must be crawling right over Pickford for the England No 1 spot. Pope is the best goal keeper Burnley have ever had, he has the lot. He now looks a better keeper than 12 months ago, his kicking is 100% better and the way he commands is box is awesome.

Far better keeper than Heaton who was routed to his line last week at Villa, if that have had been Hart he would have had dogs abuse

Yes but can he volley a ball out of touch whilst looking for a wide forward or try and spray balls about like Gerrard?
Also Pope doesn't flap about and make routine saves look world class, just focuses on saving the ball.

I know, I know, I'd also predominantly want my GK to save shots, catch crosses and ease the pressure from my defense too, but that's not the modern craze at the moment.

Far less likely to get an error leading to a goal with Pope in goal over Pickford , but a 100 yard GK ping pass is worth the risk of goals it appears.

MACCA wrote:Yes but can he volley a ball out of touch whilst looking for a wide forward or try and spray balls about like Gerrard?
Also Pope doesn't flap about and make routine saves look world class, just focuses on saving the ball.

I know, I know, I'd also predominantly want my GK to save shots, catch crosses and ease the pressure from my defense too, but that's not the modern craze at the moment.

Far less likely to get an error leading to a goal with Pope in goal over Pickford , but a 100 yard GK ping pass is worth the risk of goals it appears.

Exactly this.
Pope is a far better keeper than Pickford.
We were talking about Pickford in the pub before the game and we all reached the conclusion that he is as thick on the pitch as he is off it. You look at the likes of Gazza - not blessed with much in the intellect department but actually on the pitch a very clever footballer.
We also concluded Pickford had ADHD - you work out a lot of things in the pub !

Pickford is better at that half volley drop kick than Pope - but how many goals has Pope given away by his poor kicking..I can’t recall one.
Pickford cannot catch a ball - he’s 4 or 5 inches smaller than Pope and he tries to punch everything. Pope is great on crosses and releases a lot of pressure for us. The way he does this was a massive reason we finished 7th. Stay on your line or punch the ball and most times it’s coming straight back in - in this league it’s relentless pressure.

I'm just happy when one of our corners beats the first man!!!

Somebody very close to me in JM lower said "don't let Westwood take this he never gets it over the first man".!! Oh alright I admit it, it was me and I got a lot of stick from everybody who heard it. I didn't realise 'til MOTD that they did the exact same thing in the first half. Will we get away with it again though now it's been highlighted by Shearer?.

redwasp wrote:Somebody very close to me in JM lower said "don't let Westwood take this he never gets it over the first man".!! Oh alright I admit it, it was me and I got a lot of stick from everybody who heard it. I didn't realise 'til MOTD that they did the exact same thing in the first half. Will we get away with it again though now it's been highlighted by Shearer?.

Did you forget the one he scored from a corner?

Or the one that landed on Wood’s head and ended up in the back of Norwich’s net.

He hits the first man sometimes because he’s aiming to get it just over the first defenders head and onto the head of a runner at the front post. Inevitably some are going to be cut out.

McNeil is another excellent corner-taking option.

MACCA wrote:Yes but can he volley a ball out of touch whilst looking for a wide forward or try and spray balls about like Gerrard?
Also Pope doesn't flap about and make routine saves look world class, just focuses on saving the ball.

I know, I know, I'd also predominantly want my GK to save shots, catch crosses and ease the pressure from my defense too, but that's not the modern craze at the moment.

Far less likely to get an error leading to a goal with Pope in goal over Pickford , but a 100 yard GK ping pass is worth the risk of goals it appears.

That's the modern trend with keepers, and full-backs as well. Being able to defend isn't as important as how well you attack. Thus we now have sweeper-keepers who aren't necessarily brilliant shot stoppers, and full backs who are not particularly good at defending. That's why England's entire defence is poor when other teams attack.

In fairness I thought Delph was there best player yesterday, running the game.

I also thought Westwood was our best player for the same reason, 2 seasons ago he felt like our back up player. Certainly this season he has been the lead midfielder.

Spijed wrote:That's the modern trend with keepers, and full-backs as well. Being able to defend isn't as important as how well you attack. Thus we now have sweeper-keepers who aren't necessarily brilliant shot stoppers, and full backs who are not particularly good at defending. That's why England's entire defence is poor when other teams attack.

Football is obsessed with its trends. Arsenal's Invincibles season and Barcas dominance had teams flocking to 4-3-3. When Chelsea were dominant under Mourinho people thought the diamond was a perfect formation. Spain 08-12 had people thinking tiki taka was unbeatable and the primary quality in a midfielder was quick sideways passing. Fast forward to Germany 2014 and suddenly everyone is on about the high press of the German leagues. Sweeper keepers and playing it out from defence is just the latest, and there'll be another style evolution once a new team or tactic starts winning consistently at the highest level and suddenly that will be the latest Best Ever way of playing.
The best way of playing is whatever gets your team results, and teams like us and players like Westwood are the constant niggle to pundits whose living relies on explaining the dominant trends in football, because we simply don't make sense against the trend.